Combined gas-generator and smelter.



No. 841,212. PATENTED JAN. 15,, 1907.

W. H. ADAMS. & F. POWELL. COMBINEDv GAS GENERATOR AND SM-ELTER.APPLICATION FILED JULY 16. 1904.

S F g l 74 a I 17 fl yz *v A r r w I 9195* I! )II A. fi' F g k r I I jfi ,u A A1 W665: V Ira/62022 76. W 4 radar j aw county of Multnomah haveinvented a A ment in a Combined Gas-Generator and the following is f anapparatus for icularly those re- HUN OREGON.

To all Be it known and FREDERICK United States,

ter, of which Our invention consists 0 of ores, part high temperature fthe, smelting quirmg a COMBINED GA Applicati residing tion or for theirfusion.

In the common practice stack or upright furnaces the fuel are introducedat Air is intro through furnace. ber of twyers near the bottom, resultof the comb diate contact oxids and fusion with the ore.

to metallic form, as in iron smelting, or

oxidation of certain elements,

in coppersmelting take the relative quantity of duced.

Economy of the greatest position of 5 of the feeder freeze.

in smelting This means cient fuel in the furnace at O THE LADD POWELL,citizens o in Portland, in the and State of Oregon, new and usefulImproveor near duced through a numthe walls of the furnace takes placeas a ustion of the fuel in immeplace fuel,

25 the furnace, and the amount of air intro- UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ADAMS AN ASSIGNORS or TWE FIFTEEN ONE HUNDREDTHS T DFREDERICK POWELL, OF PORTLAND, OREGON, NTY-FIVE ONE EDTHS TO S METALSCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF SAID ADAMS, SIXTY ONE- nun'nnnnrns TO AIDPOWELL, AND

S-GENERATOR AND SMELTER.

Patented Jan. 15, 1907.

whcm, it may concern:

that we, WILLIAM H. ADAMs f the Smela specification.

or their reducof smelting in ore fluxes and the top of the Reduction 0such as sulfur, according to the height of means the smelting number ofpounds of ore with melt the charge or make a this fusion zone is ne tomof the furnace and the 0 fuel working long the right spot a fact and theinto the furnace is increase for this unt of fluxes and he fuel to arthe twyers at t fuel. In the lowest a small margin of safety The resultof this is ange in the character or comthe ore or carelessness on thepart may cause the furnace to that there is not sufhthe fusion zone tofluid slag. As

he botnly way to get through the top, there the fuel at the t thefurnace will keep to get down to before the freeze-up becomes furnacehas to and started anew.

The principal imp troduced tending to reduc 5c and at the same thebottom is be cleaned out rovement heretofore ine the fuel The air isrequired time keep the furnace hot at the hot blast.

heated before it enters the furnace. This is common practice iniron-smelting and has recently been introduced in copper-smelting withbeneficial results.

One serious difficulty smelters have to contend with is the loss of fineparticles of ore blown out of the furnace mechanically by the blast.This makes the smelting of fine ores in a stack impracticable unlesstheyare first briqueted. In large plants the fluedust and fine ore aresmelted in reverberatories or briqueted and returned to the stack. Insmall plants, where the additional furnace is not practicable for somereason, the loss in dust is a serious item or briqueting a seriousexpense.

One indispensable requisite for smelting in a stack-furnace by thepresent practice is coke as fuel. Reverberatory furnaces are fired withcoal or wood. In many localities the cost of coke or coal is prohibitoryand the available wood is of such poor quality that smelting iseconomically impossible when grate-fires are used.

Our invention consists in an improvement in smelting-furnaces wherebythe difficulties met with in smelting as commonly practiced areovercome. In our invention coal or wood is used as a fuel, and thefreezing up of a furnace, due to exhaustion of the fuel before itdescends to the fusion zone, is impossible.

The item of fluxes may also be materially reduced, because, owing to themanner in which the air and fuel are introduced, a higher temperaturecan be secured at the bottom of the furnace than by any method atpresent in use.

, stead of the top, thus subjecting them to a smelting heat' where theycannot be blown out of the furnace.

Referring to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section onthe line A B of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line CD of-Fig. 1, F is a furnace-stack of the type common in smelting copperores. The lower ortion is composed of steel water-j ackets G,

aving openings 9 for the admission of air under pressure, as in ordinarypractice. H is the hearth or crucible of the furnace, which is extendedon one side beyond the jacket of the stack. This extension is coveredwith an arch of firebrick, thus forming a flue which, in effect, is ingwith the generator P.

We prefer the form of gas-generator sho'wn, because it is especiallyadapted to our method of smelting, for the reason that it is capable ofdelivering hot gas into the'furnace under any pressure desired.

Openings for the admission of air I I are provided, through which anydesired amount of air is forced into the flue or hearth H, securingcombustion of any desired portion of the gas before entering the stack.

J is an opening through which fine ore is introduced.

K is a tap-hole for removing metal or matte. 1

L is a tap-hole for slag.

The generator-chamber P is preferably elliptical in form and iselongated at the base just above the grate T, so as to form an increasedarea at the zone of incandescence. In this manner we insure anadditional mass of fuel in this zone, which we find desirable tothoroughly decompose and fix the products of combust1on and the volatileelements of the fuel. The fuel is admitted to the chamher by the feeddevice S, the operation of which will be understood.

S represents a valved feeder through which. liquid hydrocarbons may beadmitted to the generator for enriching the gas.

A water-seal ash-pan is shown at V, and VV is the air-pipe, connectedwith a fan or pump, whereby a pressure-blast may be created through it.Air is admitted to the chamber of the generator through the ports w. Xis the outlet through which the gas enters the reverberatory hearth orflue, and, as shown, it is located below the top of the fuel and in linewith the zone of incandescence, so that said zone is confined to thelower portion of the fuel, and as the body of the fuel is longhorizontally the gas generated in they anterior portion of the zonecannot escape at the outlet before it has been thoroughly decomposed. I

W is an additional air to the bottom of ports to.

N is a vertical versely across the air-inlet for supplying the gratebelow the diaphragm placed transbottom of the generator a reverberatoryhearth connect below the grate and extending downward into the water inthe ash-pan. It forms a close junction at its ends with the dependingskirt V, which surrounds the grate-space and extends down into the waterof the ash-pan, so that the diaphragm is enabled to limit the area ofthe grate through which air supplied by the inlet WV may have access tothe grate. The skirt, in connection with the ash-pan, effects the waterseal and prevents the escape of such air as is admitted by the air-inletabove described. Steam may also be admitted through the inlet W by meansof the steam-pipe W re resentspoke-holes. It wi 1' be understood thatthe air is introduced into the furnace under pressure from a lower, asin common practice in smelting, and that the gas-producer is operatedwith forced blast from an independent blower, giving a pressure slightlyin excess of that of the furnace-blast. Our method of smelting, carriedon in an apparatus substantially of the form described, is as follows:The gas-generator is first started, using either wood or coal, it beingunderstood that if wood is to be burned the generator is required to besomewhat larger than for coal. A sufficient amount of air is admitted inthe hearth through the openings I I to burn the gas. If the hearth isnew and cold, a fire of wood must be start.- ed in it to secure theignition of the gas. Then a quantity of wood cut to about the size ofordinary stove-wood-that is, twelve to sixteen inches long and from sixto eight inches thickis introduced into the stack suflicient to fill itsomewhat above the twyers, and the blast is turned on at this point.This fuel is immediately ignited by the gas-flame. Lumpcoal (or wood) isnow introduced sufficient to fill the stack about half-full. After thisis thoroughly ignited ore fluxes and fuel are charged in regular order.If coal is used, lumps only are used in the stack, the fine portiongoing to the gas-generator. If wood is used, it should be out up asdescribed. In either case the chief object of the fuel in the stack isto keep the ore'from fusing into a mass, thatwould obstruct the passageof the gas and the blast, the main source of heat be-' ing the gas.

The ore should be screened and only the coarse ore charged in the stack,the fines be ing introduced into the reverberatory hearth of the furnaceat intervals through the open ing J or through a door at the side.During the charging of fine ore the blast on the furnace and on thegenerator are both reduced to a point where the natural draft of thestack will prevent fire bursting from this charging door or opening. Thehearth is soon filled with molten matter up to the level of theslag-tap, which is left open, and the slag is allowed to run through araised spout,

which traps the blast until the accumulation of matte or metal requirestapping from the lower tap-hole.

This form of furnace allows a much better opportunity for matte or metalto settle out of the slag than is possible in any form of set-' tler orforehearth. The slag is held at the highest temperature whilethissettling is accomplished. It is therefore practicable to make cleanslags when they are so silicious as to flow but slowly from the ordinaryfurnace or so high in specific gravity that the matte or metal settlesslowly. The use of the outside settler is therefore unnecessary inordinary cases.

Owing to the means provided for introducing fine ores and the screeningout of al fine material from the ore charged in the stack, smelting inour furnace makes practically no flue-dust.

By our method of smelting. in the described furnace by means of agas-flame forced into the base of a stack and means of introducing airthrough twyers in the stack itself or into the flue 0r hearth leading tothe stack it is possible to regulate the action within the furnace byadmitting the proper quantity of air at the proper place, so as toproduce a reducing effect where a deoxidation or reduction of oxid oresis required or an oxidizing effect where the oxidation of any element inthe charge is desirable.

The twyers or air-inlets through the jack- I ets at the base of thestack supply air for the combustion of the gas as it passes up the stackand for the combustion of the fuel fed with the ore. The twyers in thehearth or flue supply air for combustion of the gas or any portion of itbefore it reaches the stack. An oxidizing-flame is thus produced with anexcess of air or a reducing-flame with a limited quantity. The fuel fedwith the ore assists with the smelting, but is not required inproportion sufficient to smelt the charge, nor is it required to be of acharacter or quality necessary to produce a smelting heat, soft coal orwood being sufficient. Some classes of ore not tending to agglomeratewould reuire no fuel in the stack.

While the form of gas-generator herein shown is the best now known tous, it will be understood that we do not wish to be confined to thatconstruction.

The combination with a furnace, of a smelting-stack, a reverberatoryhearth connecting the furnace to the bottom of the stack, means forsupplying the hearth with a blast of air and means for mixing fine oreswith said blast.

WILLIAM H. ADAMS FREDERICK POWELL.

gas generating Witnesses ZERA SNow, D. L. BRENNAN.

